UNDP Jobs - 49440- Consultant – Mapping of Partnership Opportunities

Consultant – Mapping of Partnership Opportunities with International Development Banks

Location :

Home-based with one mission to Istanbul, Turkey, TURKEY

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

15-Sep-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

estimated September - October 2014

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

approximately 20 working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Within the framework of the regional programme (2014-2017) a contract will be awarded by the UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS for a highly qualified international consultant to map partnership opportunities for UNDP in Europe and the CIS with international development banks.

The UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS (based in Istanbul, Turkey), is UNDP’s main knowledge and advisory hub for the countries serviced by UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS (RBEC). Through its regional programme, the Centre provides advisory support and knowledge management and innovation services to UNDP Country Offices in the ECIS region in the areas of poverty reduction, democratic governance, environment and energy, crisis prevention and recovery, capacity development, gender, HIV, health and development, and strategic partnerships. It connects the region to a global network of development experts, to build knowledge and capacity, and to forge partnerships to meet the development challenges of a large and diverse region.

The consultant will be contracted to carry out tasks specified below and will report to the Team Leader, New Partnerships and Emerging Donors.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of this assignment is to assess partnership opportunities for UNDP in Europe and the CIS with international development banks at the regional and country level, as well as propose feasible business models for UNDP’s engagement with international development banks, reflecting the past experience of such engagement and analyzing the existing bottlenecks.

The assessment will specifically focus on:

Multilateral Development Banks (the World Bank Group, including the World Bank Institute, and the Regional Development Banks, including the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development);
International Financial Institutions and Regional Development Banks (European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, and the Eurasian Development Bank, including the Centre for Integration Studies and Technical Assistance Fund);
Other IFIs operating in ECIS identified during the preparation of Deliverable 1.

The consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

Deliverable 1:
Prepare a matrix of partners (international development banks) operating in the ECIS region, including:

Thematic priorities;
Geographical priorities (exact presence in countries of the ECIS region);
Modalities (project types; legal instruments; funding cycles, etc.) used by IDBs and regional and country-level budgets where applicable;
Current cooperation with ECIS countries, and specifically with UN/UNDP (brief case studies of current country-level UNDP initiatives, e.g. from Armenia) as well as successful examples from other regions;
Potential entry points for UNDP to engage (partner intelligence) on new regional partnerships;
Decision-making mechanisms of the IDBs (where, how, how long does it take for IDBs to make decisions on cooperation after initial discussions).

Deliverable 2:

Identify and analyze bottlenecks related to the engagement with IDBs (both those within the IDBs and within UNDP) based on interviews with staff of selected IDBs (to obtain IDB perspective on where engagement with UNDP would/would not be desired and to gain clarity on rules and procedures within each IDB), but also with UNDP Headquarters, Regional Centre teams and Country Office personnel (list of relevant staff to be agreed) and propose a blueprint for a business model of UNDP’s engagement with international development banks (differentiated by bank).

Deliverable 3:

Prepare final report (ca. 15-20 pages) by:

Compiling Deliverable 1 and 2;
Identifying and analyzing partnership opportunities for UNDP in ECIS with IDBs based on Deliverable 1 and 2 taking into account the priority areas of the UNDP Regional Programme Document (2014-2017);
Identifying several key partnership opportunities with selected IDBs with the potential to connect UNDP to top-notch expertise and/or generate funding and support for regional or country level interventions. These may include both concrete project opportunities benefitting UNDP COs as well as capacity development, advisory services and knowledge management initiatives that are country and/or regional in scope. These may include initiatives utilizing or leveraging the environment and climate finance instruments, including the GEF, the Adaptation Fund, and the Green Climate Fund;
Elaborating specific recommendations for a business model of UNDP’s engagement with IDBs taking into account existing partnership practices and within UNDP rules and procedures.

The work on and acceptance of deliverables will be preceded by agreement with the Team Leader on the outline of each deliverable, methodology, and the sources of information (relevant documents and list of key informants).

Timeline for submission of each deliverable will be agreed with the consultant upon signing of the contract.

Location:

Home-based with one mission to Istanbul, Turkey (up to 3 days)

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Promotes the mission and values of the UN;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
Effective interpersonal and communication skills;
Strong analytical, research, reporting and writing abilities;
Strong organizational and process management competencies;
Team working competencies and ability to effectively work in teams;
Ability to assess complex situations in order to screen succinctly and clearly critical issues and draw forward-looking conclusions.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s degree in Business Administration, International Relations, and other fields related to the scope of the assignment.

Experience

At least 7 years of proven programming, project management, technical assistance, or policy advisory experience in international development banks and/or international organizations (if at least one assignment included cooperation with IDB/IFI). Consulting assignments are applicable;
Proven knowledge of IDBs and UN/UNDP, particularly of specific modalities of work and priorities;
Proven experience in developing new partnerships and new business development in Europe and CIS countries.

Language

Excellent English report writing and communication skills;
Knowledge of another regional language, e.g. Russian, is an asset.

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria – 70% of total evaluation – max 35 points:

Criteria A (Academic background) specified in the announcement – max 5 points;
Criteria B (At least 7 years of proven programming, project management, technical assistance, or policy advisory experience in international development banks and/or international organizations (if at least one assignment included cooperation with IDB/IFI) – max 15 points;
Criteria C (Proven knowledge of IDBs and UN/UNDP, particularly of specific modalities of work and priorities.) – max 10 points;
Criteria D (Proven experience in developing new partnerships and new business development in Europe and CIS countries) – max 5 points.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points.

Application procedure

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website.

The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees; please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum amount in USD for the tasks specified in this announcement. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (number of anticipated working days, daily rate, travel costs to join the duty station/repatriation travel, if any, and any other possible costs);
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.
Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.